Who should pay for dates…men or women?

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been asking my friends (both men and women) who paid and who should pay for first dates. Almost everyone said men in their experience paid for first dates, although most of my women friends added that they reached for the wallet and offered to chip in. The one person who didn’t say “men” said that whoever asked for the date paid (or at least should pay) for the date.

I looked into the research more to see how dating has changed in the past few decades. In the 1980’s, men and women both expected gender differentiated roles on dates. Paying for dates was generally considered a masculine behavior. A shift started to happen in the 1990’s when dating became a little more egalitarian. Although men were still generally expected to plan and pay for dates, women who paid for dates became much more common. In one study, 72% of men had been on a date where the woman paid, and 76% of women daters footed the bill at least once also (Lottes, 1993).

Then I asked my friends, “How long do men generally pay for dates if the relationship continues?”…(Click here to continue reading).